Devil Survivor 2 The Animation – 10

It’s fair to say that for DeSu2A, this Io-centric episode had plenty riding on it. The narrative’s been building towards this moment for weeks, and in the Russian Roulette game that DeSu2A has become, Io’s life had been the highest stakes the show’s put forth thus far. Naturally, I expected things to end in grim fashion- despair seemed to be the prerogative of DeSu2A, and Io’s death would by far have the largest, most lasting impact compared to any other characters’. It would have been the one event to finally make Hibiki stand completely against JP’s, despite the cheapness of the death to force an emotional development. Lo and behold, my expectations for the episode were overturned in a most incomprehensible series of twists; don’t make me try and explain how Hibiki’s Shakko-magic worked, because I honestly have no ideas myself. (And this coming from a game-player) Like I said, I don’t know if I should be happy –that DeSu2A didn’t go down the most obvious, angst-fodder route it could’ve taken– or be dismayed at the incredibly inane way they pulled it off.

To be honest, whether Io died or not mattered little to me in the end, since the crux is that this was meant to be the emotional climax of the series. I expect my opinions will differ from the majority in this regard, because as impossible as it sounds, they actually managed to evoke a good feeling from me. Now before you get all hasty with the comment button, my opinion doesn’t change the fact that the narrative in the episode was flawed, incredibly so. The storyline involving the Septentrione Mizar, the Lugh control mechanisms and the Shakko dragon was utterly confusing, and rife with cheese and clichés; what with Hibiki pulling off a deus ex machina and bringing Io’s shattered consciousness back together with his outspoken feelings.

But as confused as the narrative was, and as cringe-worthy as some the dialogue was; it was so undeniably heartwarming for me to see the two characters connect emotionally, and together break the curse of the death clips. This might just be the one time DeSu2A managed to genuinely convince me on an emotional level, where Hibiki and Io’s mutual feelings came across with a surprising sincerity. The reason this could even work can largely been credited to the presentation of the scene, undoubtedly the show at its most evocative and beautiful, whilst being bolstered by the brilliantly poignant insert song. Also, credit where credit is due: Putting aside the dialogue, Uchida Aya somehow managed to keep her overacting (mostly) in check and actually pulled off a really touching performance for the emotionally distraught Io. Now why didn’t she show this more subdued (and IMO better) side in the earlier episodes?

It again makes me wonder what DeSu2A could’ve been like in the hands of a more competent team, with a better script and more time to develop its characters. Amidst the waffle over Io’s sacrifice is a noble attempt at exploring how this completely normal girl was trapped, both literally and emotionally, by the horrible circumstances of the Septentrione attacks and the JP’s counterplan forced upon her. This could partly be my gamer’s bias at work here, but Io’s emotional breakdown seems to merely be an inkling of the potential at exploring this, a potential that was ultimately undermined by the show’s constant hitting of the plot magic button.

In any case, I highly doubt DeSu2A has the capacity to surprise like this again in its last 3 episodes; the narrative focus have steadily been shifting towards the the trio of Hibiki, Alcor and Yamato, with an ultimate showdown to decide the fate of the post-septentrione world seemingly the most likely scenario for the climax of this story.

It’s the problem the series as a whole has. They don’t have enough time to develop the characters. Looks how Keita appeared and died within one episode with zero mentioning his circumstances of joining the JPs or how we got 5 minutes of Joe and Otome’s backstory combined…

I truly believe if the studio has more episode to work with, they will be able to pull out a more amazing story than this. Still, I’m content with the series, just that they could have been better…

Kishi derailed Yamato into a one-dimensional, incompetent villain, over-empathized Io’s meekness, reduced Daichi to an unfunny Jar Jar Binks clone, and pulled this whole MC “is the chosen one and has special powers” completely out of his ***. On top of that, the anime seems to subscribe to a mean-spirited killing spree for no reason other than to make the show seem dark.

I have to concur. The problem isn’t retelling a story you already told, it’s the story itself. Even if you retell it so fast that you make the character look like crappy replicas of their former selves, that doesn’t mean they weren’t crappy to begin with.

Some games just don’t translate well to animation, mainly because most VN characters are static bricks. They can have 10 different vocal & facial expressions throughout the whole game & than would be good enough. You have to give them some sort of fluid personality when you fully animate them – Hundreds of vocal & facial expressions. That’s definitely easier said than done.

Devil Survivor 2 isn’t a visual novel, it’s an RPG, at the end of the day what’s missing from the adaptation that can never be replaced is the part of the experience that comes from the game play and how your characters also develop through combat. Some you might use more than others and what you do has an impact on who survives and who doesn’t. It’s a shame how simplified in tone, feel, development and overall experience the adaptations have made all the Shin Megami Tensei games look to non-gamer fans so far as I feel it truly is one of the most introspective and engrossing RPG experiences out there game in and game out.

I was just using VNs as an example since they are usually destroyed by adaptations more often. The other RPG-anime I know of aren’t in the same style as this game so I can’t really compare it anything. Sometimes you’re just stuck with what you got. Characters that interact & develop through fighting are reliant on the player to give them that “in your shoes” feeling. Mainly through getting stronger & more adept. Take the player away & you just get an empty shell. This show just decided to not fill those shells with anything.

Gotta agree with all the points you’ve brought up here – I never had a chance to get emotionally attached to Io as a character because she was barely developed, but the beautiful way they handled the scene (presentation, music etc.) enabled me to throw all my doubts out of the window (even if just for the duration of that scene) and just feel honestly moved by what’s occurring. And despite all of its flaws, I think this counts as a great success for DS2A.

The way they’ve been spending only one episode on the past few game days really drives the pacing problem in, though. I wish they could’ve been given two cours to properly develop some of these characters (though the time constraint wasn’t the only issue at work, of course) so we could get more emotionally touching moments like these, but alas.

Well, with three episodes seemingly completely devoted to the last day and what goes on beyond it, I do remain slightly hopeful that they can at least tie up the series in a somewhat satisfying way.

Is the term deus ex machina, in its usual definition, even valid in battles that involve gods? Lugh vs. Shakko has about as much reason to conform to reason as Superman Prime vs. Galactus. Can Shokko save Io? Sure why the hell not. Maybe Lugh returned her because he’s a good loser. :p They are gods, let them do whatever they want (like kill… what 200+ people? I don’t think anyone even noticed.).

That being said, long standing fan of the series and DeSu2, I still find this series fun to follow but I treat it for what it is: another route with a distinct tone (and mechanics, at the end of the day, since demons seem to just pop up rather arbitrarily). I liked this cheesy episode largely because I really wasn’t sure for the majority of it if they were actually going to save Io or not. This is the first d-clip that’s actually been successfully avoided and the “song of triumph” was doubly fitting.

PLOT armor worked!
Seriously though, I am happy that Io has survived.
But now with only the last Septentrion to battle, there is VERY high probability we will come to confront The Anguished One, forced to fight his newly acquired friends against himself.
Assuming we will deal with it successfully, there is question of Polaris and if he will acknowledge humanity’s right to exist. And then there is Yamato who has been grabbing every bit of bad karma he could get. He got lucky that Io has lived because otherwise I think he would be killed in place by Hibiki, Humanity, Septentrions and outome of the war be damned.
Last but not least, I just loved to see Io kick ass, even if only for a while when possessed by Lugh. Actually I’d love to see Yamato’s plan to backfire upon him and for him to end dying to Io/Lugh’s attacks.

Well I’ll just provide the counterpoint view. This was just stupid even in the context of the show alone. If you’re going to provide some weight into these two characters, you are obligated to convince the audience that they would go through this. Io and Hbiki barely have any interaction onscreen, so how am I suppose to buy that Hibiki would go thorugh all the save Io an that Io would listen? I mean screw all the JP mooks that DIED trying to stop Io, no Hibiki’s ego is supposed to be the righteous one because somehow he considers Io the most important person to save? I call BS on that. Also is anyone getting serious Evangelion 2.0 vibes on those scenes? Its like they aren’t even trying to hide that they’re ripping off Eva.

But no, as a a fan of the game what truly offends me is how Io is now reduced to a simpering coward who needs her man “HIBIKI-KUN!!!” to save her. Just the sexist implications of it are unsettling but it also craps on the games themes on friendship and camaraderie. In the game she and everyone else were fully informed about the methods and consequences by Yamato (who I remind you is nothing like this ***hole in the anime). Which basically resolves EVERYONE to be there for her and protect her while she manifests Lugh and kick ass. At which point (if she lives) Io would just walk out of it and go back fighting because she just proved how awesome she is.

Anime!Yamato…hooo boy. Let’s just say at this point even a callous bastard like Game!Yamato would think this Yamato is a jerk. Not to mention be appalled by his incompetence of getting his people killed for no reason. I’m actually convinced that Kishi never knew the source material. He’s completely failed to understand the concept of moral grays and just wanted to shove in a one-dimensional villain.

Also I only now realized that both Makoto and Fumi have also been derailed. Makoto is one of the most moral caharacters in the game constantly struggling with her own kindness and her loyalty to Yamato. Fumi is a textbook mad scientists but clearly has standards since her own arc involves her being horrified when her experiments risk other people lives. Here they’re just jerks by virtue of being under Yamato.

I wonder if Io’s survival in the anime has to do with the Devil Survivor 2 popularity poll taken back in 2011. Though she is 4th most popular, Io’s is the most popular female character in the game.http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/625210-/62692979

I rrally liked how Yamato said, “Good job Nitta.” after the deed was done. Most people would not have caught this but it showed that Yamato is not as heartless as he seemed to be, just that he knew what must be done.

Thought that Yamato was going to kill Nitta when Hibiki and Io were trying to reach out to each other haha, Yamato is like a yandere when he say Hibiki is mine, I’m surprise that Hibiki hasn’t tried to destroy JP’s yet.

As cheesy as this episode was its still the best one for this series so far. What makes apocalyptic based stories appealing is the emotional journeys people face in these situations. Since we were having a whole episode dedicated to the main characters it was a nice change and seeing that display of emotion kind of touches you. I mean big battles and stuff are nice but if theres no feeling , its just mindless violence on screen.

Perceptions really do depend on whether you’ve played these games before. I remember being on the player side for the Persona 4 anime and now on the “haven’t played it yet” for Devil Survivor 2. I will say I think the anime is doing its job. Getting people interested in the game and wanting to check it out. I know after this is over I’ll be grabbing a copy (or just waiting for the 3DS update they are going to release eventually).

A lot of it was cheesy and the dialogue wasn’t amazing. But damn it I still enjoyed the episode. I went into this expecting a horrible death for Io that would just emotionally break Hibiki and Daichi. Instead they pulled off some craziness, but it worked. In the end the emotions from Hibiki and Io let this be sold for me.

I just thought the visuals, voice acting, music, just everything came together in that one moment and worked. Have seen so much sacrifice in anime and games that a chance to just kick that to the side for one scene was nice to see.

I can sympathize with the gamers who would have wanted more. I know in Persona 4 I was often groaning with how much more the anime could have done with more time, but that’s how adaptations go. At least this anime has me interested in the game.

I agree with you there. Unlike Persona 4 I’m also on the other side of the fence. It’s interesting being the one who hasn’t played the game this time around. If anything, I do want to give the game a go now, it’s been sitting on my shelf since the day it released in North America. *sighs.*

I thought P4 was a pretty good adaptation. DS2 just feels rushed. I’m having a hard time caring about any of the characters. I think more episodes might have helped fleshed things out but once again, I’ve not played the game.

However, the scene between Hibiki and Io did warm my heart a little. ^_^

Unless the series completely falls apart at the final episode I’ll probably end up buying this series on DVD. (I just hope Sentai provides a decent dub and subs.)

Kind of figured it’d turn out that way with how many enemies they have to fight and how many episodes they had to do it in. Though I almost expect game adaptations to have a rushed feeling (especially RPGs) because of how dense the material is. P4 overall wasn’t rushed, they just saved that for select moments XD. Like doing half the social links in one episode.

Would have been nice to have more episodes to flesh these characters out more. Though I do wonder how much more could have been done with this episode count. A casualty of the current state of things where taking a chance on a 20+ episode series is too much and adaptations try to manage with 13 episodes.

So far they’ve told a decent story though and have me interested in checking out the game. I just have to go and buy it XD.

That was one of the best episodes yet, even though the scene at the end was very similar to the finale of EVA 2.22. It was still really well done, and I’m all abroad the Hibiki x Io ship now. Also, is Fumi going to fight ever? Or is she going to just continue doing her experiments and job with the continued bored look on her face? (I’m asking mainly because she’s really good in the game)

Nice to know that the disappointment isn’t just me. I’ve been feeling a bit isolated and disliked by people that I honestly suspect just don’t want to think that an anime based off of a popular game might not be that great (very similar to my reaction to the Persona 4 anime).

I feel more and more conflicted about this anime. It seems impossible for a 1-cour show to do the story of the game justice. They already had to change and cut out so much of the interesting stuff I liked about the game’s story (Like the escalating conflicts between JP’s, civilians and gangs). And the way this is going the interesting contrast of conflicting world views and desired utopia’s from the game will be reduced to a binary matter of “Hotsuin is a dick and Hibiki is right”. I’m really disappointed.